Speak Up
by WillowEchoRiver
Summary: When it appears Hardison has made a very bad decision, Parker feels the need to speak up. Parker/Hardison. Rated K.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage. **

**Author's Note: So, I don't even know why, but this story idea popped into my head when I was listening to Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now'. This is probably the most random thing I've written in a while, but I was always told to write your ideas, so here it is... :) and this isn't a song fic, it's just inspired by a song...So if you feel like it, go look the song up, it's kinda fun :)**

**The Vow Job**

Parker had known the vacation was a stupid idea. But Sophie had told her it would probably do her good to get out of town and have some alone time. Plus, Sophie had paid for her tickets, and Parker hadn't had to spend any of her precious money on the vacation, so she'd thought, why not?

But it had been a stupid thing to do. Because when she arrived at the headquarters only three weeks after she'd left, she received a bit of a shock.

Nate, Sophie, and Eliot were all sitting together, talking in low voices. Eliot and Nate were both wearing tuxedos and Sophie wore a blue gown. That wasn't the shock, though. It got worse.

Sophie had just stood up and said, "It's probably time to get going."

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Parker asked, confused.

"Oh, Parker! You're back!" Sophie said, looking genuinely pleased to see her. "We're...Uh...Going to Hardison's wedding."

That was the shock.

"You're _what?_" She asked, staring at Sophie like she'd lost her mind.

"We have to go now, but we'll explain later. Don 't worry, we've got it under control." Nate told her, as the three of them hurried out the door. She followed hesitantly.

A few minutes later, they were sitting in a church decorated with more flowers then Parker had ever seen in one place before. "It looks like a garden exploded in here."

"Parker, I know what you must be thinking but-" Sophie started,

"We'll explain later, Sophie, you can't tell her here." Nate interrupted. Which annoyed Parker quite a lot. She wanted to know who Hardison was marrying, and why he was marrying her.

She could see Hardison standing at the front of the room. His eyes met hers, and he smiled at her.

He sure had a lot of nerve to be smiling at her right now, when she felt like strangling him. Which brought the question...Why in the world was she so angry about this? She knew she had feelings for him, but she could get over those, couldn't she? After all, he was just a man.

But what if she loved him? No. She had to remind herself that was a ridiculous idea.

She felt a sick feeling in her stomach as music began to play, and a very pretty woman walked down the isle in a long, flowing, white dress, that in Parker's opinion looked like a marshmallow. She watched the woman walking, because she didn't think she could handle looking at Hardison and seeing the smile he probably had on his face.

How had this happened in three weeks? Had he been secretly engaged all this time and she just hadn't known it? For the first time, she regretted that she'd kept her feelings for him a secret.

If Parker had been listening carefully to what they were saying when the woman reached the front of the room, she would have realized that they didn't say Hardison's name. They said James something. But Parker wasn't paying close enough attention to catch this.

The first thing that was said that she actually paid attention to, was the preacher saying, "If anyone has any reason these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

What could she say? Those words were asking for trouble. Besides, hadn't Hardison promised he'd wait for her? Till she was ready? At least, that's what it had sounded like. He'd said, 'Pretzels? Well, they'll be here...When you want them.' She'd thought that conversation had been very clearly about their relationship. But what did she know about people anyway?

She cleared her throat and got to her feet.

Eliot grabbed her wrist, "Sit down Parker! Seriously! Get down right now!"

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Her voice was loud and indignant when she spoke, "Why are you marrying someone dressed in a big fat rain cloud costume, anyway? We had a deal. I'm calling Pretzel here!"

Hardison's eyes widened, and he stared at her in shock for a moment, but before he even had time to respond, Sophie and Nate had both taken Parker by one arm and were attempting to lead her out of the room.

"Sorry about that!" Nate called, "Someone had too much to drink!"

"I have not been drinking!" Parker complained loudly. "That's your problem, Nate, not mine! Now let go!"

Suddenly they were stopped in their tracks, when they heard the cocking of a gun behind them. "Trying to steal my fiance, girly?" The bride's voice spoke from behind her.

Parker turned around to look at the woman, and the gun pointed right at her. "Well this is awkward..." She said, after a short pause.

Suddenly the woman was knocked to the ground by Eliot, and the gun was taken from her. Two police officers who had been invited to the wedding put hand cuffs on the screaming woman and dragged her out of the room.

Nobody would explain anything until they were back at the headquarters, and then when they got there the room broke out into a bunch of angry voices.

"Parker! What's wrong with you?" Eliot yelled, his voice the loudest.

"It's not her fault, I told you we should have explained!" Sophie objected.

"Guys...Guys...Let's just chill out a little..." Hardison sounded the most calm, ironically.

"Okay, everyone quiet!" Nate called loudly, and surprisingly, it worked. "Parker! It was a _con_."

"Oh! It was a _con_!" Parker started laughing, but when she saw their annoyed expressions her laughter died down. "What? How was I supposed to know? No one _told me_!"

Nate and Eliot got up from the table and left the room, both of them looking extremely annoyed.

"I'm not angry, Parker, I told them to tell you." Sophie said, giving her a pat on the back, before giving Hardison a pointed look and leaving the room.

Parker got to her feet quickly, all she knew, was she didn't want to be left alone with the man she might as well have proclaimed love for.

"Hey, wait up a minute." He said, motioning to her chair again. He had a wide grin on his face, and Parker wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not.

"Don't laugh at me." She said, as she sat down again. "I just didn't think it was very smart-"

"She did look a little like a rain cloud in that dress, didn't she?" Hardison interrupted, grinning across the table at her.

A small smile spread across Parker's face, "I was just being honest..."

"You called 'Pretzel.' "

"Yeah, so?"

"You said, at my wedding, (fake wedding, maybe, but wedding nonetheless) that you were 'calling Pretzel.' "

"You're point, exactly?" Parker folded her arms and raised her eyebrows.

Hardison sighed, she was not making this conversation easy. "My point is...You called 'Pretzel' and I'm calling 'Dinner'."

"Fine, enjoy dinner, I guess?" Parker said slowly, completely confused.

"No, I mean...Taking _you_ to dinner." He added, patiently but sounding slightly nervous.

"Oh." She thought about that for a moment, then grinned, "Yeah. Okay. I like food. Not as much as money, but you know."

"Do you like anything more then money?" Hardison asked, looking amused.

"Yeah, one thing."

"And what's that?" He asked, suddenly very curious.

"You." She said, almost inaudibly, before walking out of the room.

"Wait a minute, what?" He asked, standing up and going after her, "Hey, wait! Parker! "

**Author's Note: So, please be gentle! It's my first Leverage fanfiction! Never in all my fanfiction writings have I encountered characters that I felt so challenging to write...Wonderful, challenging characters. So they'll probably be way off, but at least I tried, right? And if there's anyone who liked it, let me know if you'd be interested in a follow up about the dinner. :)**


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